Police believe crime related to breakup

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A Virginia woman could be sentenced to as many as 50 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to charges related to her alleged beheading of a piglet.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, 22-year-old Ashley Fowler of Portsmouth pleaded guilty in Chesapeake Circuit Court to two counts of killing or maiming livestock, one count of breaking and entering, and one count of possession of the drug Adderall. Additional charges of breaking and entering and destruction of property were dropped by prosecutors.

Fowler was arrested Feb. 9 after Janie Sawyer of Chesapeake reported that she had found a piglet's head on her front porch. Sawyer also reported that she had found another badly wounded piglet in the barn near her Ballahack Road home. The second piglet was later euthanized.

Both piglets belonged to Sawyer's son, Zach. The Virginian-Pilot reported that a search warrant affidavit indicates that police believe the incident occurred over a breakup.

In addition to the charges relating to the piglet beheading, Fowler also pleaded guilty to breaking into the Northwest Baptist Church in Chesapeake, which reported that three wooden crosses and three fire extinguishers had been taken. Police found six fire extinguishers, a wooden cross, an ax, a large hunting knife, a camouflage boot, and a black ski cap and gloves in Fowler's Ford Explorer.